it’s ‘patti built’ · bia, canada, and built by patti marine enterprises in pensaco-la. tw...

SECT ION ESUNDAY, JULY 13, 2014 » PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL » PNJ.COM

COAST LIFE

When is a tug boat not just atug boat?When it is a hybridtug commissioned by SignetMaritime Corp., Houston, Tex-as, designed by Robert AllanLtd., Vancouver, British Colum-bia, Canada, and built by PattiMarine Enterprises in Pensaco-la.

Two105-foot “Patti Built”state-of-the-art tug boats havebeen launched since April. Thefirst was named Signet Arctu-rus. Its sister ship, launchedJune16, is Signet Polaris.

Signet, expanding its off-shore towing, rig escort, andsubsea operations, wanted aspecialized vessel capable of“providing our customers thebest of both worlds in strengthand agility,” said JosephW.

Dahl, vice president of SignetMaritime. “By bundling con-trollable pitch propeller tractortechnology with the brutestrength of SignetWarhorsetugs, we did.”

That strength and agilitycomes from two Caterpillar

C175-16main engines.“The designer wanted the

biggest engines available toprovide themost Bollard pull,which is a conventional mea-sure of pulling/towing power ofwatercraft,” said Frank PattiJr., president of Patti Marine.

“The Caterpillar engines weinstalled are on some vessels,but are not in widespread pro-duction yet.”

With all that horsepowercame other hurdles. The addedweight meant the vessel fellunder the United States CoastGuard Subchapter 1Certificateof Inspection criteria becauseof its displacement (tonnagevolume).

“All tanks and welds wereinspected and X-rayed,” Pattisaid, “every bolt and screwexamined. It literally meantthousandsmoreman-hours inconstruction time to becomeUSCG inspected. I don’t knowof any other tug boats this sizein the U.S. that are USCG in-spected besides Arcturus andPolaris.”

Both tugs are AmericanBureau of Shipping certifiedfor International Air PollutionPrevention, International Oil

I T ’ S A TUG BOATI T ’ S A F IRE BOAT

IT’S‘PATTI BUILT’Hybrid has bothstrength and agility

By Julie B. ConnerleyNews Journal correspondent

Capt. Brian Waters, left, and Frank Patti Jr., president of Patti MarineEnterprises, chat on the Signet Polaris, a new state-of-the-art hybridtug boat. PHOTOS BY JULIE B. CONNERLEY/ONLINE@PNJ.COM

See BOATS » 4E

Have you noticed a littlesizzle to the seatsgetting into your cars

lately? Even if you have clothseats, I’ll bet you still have towork to avoid touching themetal buckle in your seat beltstrapwhen you’re locking in.The gearshift and steeringwheel probably aren’t any funeither. That’s right. Welcometo summertime in Pensacola.

It’s hot, plain and simple.It’s no surprise, seeing as howthis is July, but knowingahead of time that themiseryis coming doesn’t make it anybetter when it arrives.There’s something about

those10months of not gettingblasted by invisible yet dead-ly waves of heat whenweopen the car door thatmakesus forget the reality of it. It’sa lot like childbirth in thatway (just ask anymom ofmore than one child if youdon’t get the comparison).

It’s also tempting to tellourselves that getting rainmost afternoons helps thesituation. Anyone, however,who has ever watched theresulting steam rise from theasphalt afterward knows itdoesn’t helpmuch. It onlyaddsmoisture to the al-ready-95 percent humidity,whichmay be a slight exag-geration. On some days, it’sno exaggeration at all.

So, why dowe do this toourselves?We could livesomewhere else. Beside themost straightforward answerbeing that Pensacola is ourhome, it’s also amatter of

percentages.We put upwithtwomonths of scooting fromour air-conditioned homes toour air-conditioned cars toour air-conditioned job loca-tions in order to luxuriate inthe other10months ofmostlygreat weather. It’s a fairtrade.

If you dowork outside,especially in the blazing sun,you havemy respect. You’re asummertime superhero. It’sone thing to hit the beach orthe river or the ballfields andstay safe in the heat as part ofyour fun. It’s a whole differ-ent thing to have to work andbe productive as you drip

sweat and feel various sec-tions of your skin start tocrisp.

While the heat does war-rant caution, it doesn’t meaneverything bad. It alsomeansthe swimmingwater feelsmuch cooler. The air pushfrom a box fan canmake yourday. Popsicles and ice creamhit that dry spot when the sunis beating down on you.

This ismy public servicereminder to pause often andenjoy the small pleasures theseason has to offer. It willmake the difference.Well,that and a freezer full of icedtreats.

SOUTHERN PERSPECTIVE

Welcome to summertime in Northwest FloridaLINDAA.B. DAVISSouthernPerspective